COMPUTING & IT RESOURCES
Increasing female and BAME representation in computing Thismonth, in his ongoing series looking at topics associate
to , tywithin the computing industry. In this art
fewer students a computing provi “In July 2019, th
e University of Roehampton publishe ter qualifications.
tedwith computing in education,
MOHAMMED REHMAN Programme TeamLeader in Computing at Arden University of diversity
in schools to promote computer studies froma younger age to students to take up compute
fe ty delves into to the lack
rticle,Mohammed explains thatmore could be done to encouragemore female and BAME
d its annual computing education report, bringing together data on
sion in schools. The report highlights some real issues within the industry. Firstly, the report highlights that re undertaking a computing qualification, the number of schools offering computing has decreased and the
total number of hours at computing/ICT taught at Key Stage 3, 4 and 5 has dropped significantly.
“Additionally, the 2017 Royal Society ‘After the Reboot’ report highlights that only 20%of GCSE Computing candidates in 2017 were female, compared to the 39%that attempted the ICT qualification. The ICT GCSE was branded as ‘not fit for purpose’ by the government but it attracted a greater proportion of female and BAME students compared to the Computing GCSE, which is seen by these groups as more difficult and ‘boring’ compared to the previous qualification. This lack o f diversity has a knock-on effect in higher education and the workplace as a whole, where the absence of relevant role models and negative stereotypes of people who work in computing contributes to the lack of representation in the sector.” So how do we fix it, apart from making computing a core subject?
bj
“Research conducted by Napier University suggests that skills in creativity, problem solving and teamwork are inherent in tech roles and that while these would appeal to female applicants they are not being made ‘visible’ enough. The Roehampton report suggests the development of ‘creative computing’ courses which tie into this need for creativity.
“Anne-Marie Imafidon, who at 11 was the youngest girl ever to pass A Level Computing, set up the ‘Stemettes’ programme. It runs hackathons, exhibitions and mentoring schemes, helping young women to make informed choices about careers in the sciences.
“Partnerships between schools and universities can also make a difference in terms of providing role models for female and BAME students. For example, Liverpool University’s ‘Fast Tracker’ programme works with Year 11 Yemeni and Somali children to improve GCSE attainment, providing undergraduate mentors and talks from members of the BAME community about their careers.
“Initiatives such as these are important. In areas such as AI, the algorithms that will pot entially impact significantly on our liv es are currently being developed by a narrow community of tech workers that pursued Computing at GCSE level and beyond. A more representative tech workforce may help to alleviate some of the inherent biases that emerge from a developer base lacking in diversity.”
Formore info formation about Arden University ty, please
visitwww.arden.ac.uk
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